-No School on Wednesday due to Veteran’s Day
-Please make sure you have signed up for conferences via our website
-Encourage your child to wear and use an analog clock
-Book exchange is on. Donate this week, select “new” books next week
-Wear Blue shirts for our 50th anniversary of DM Heights photograph on Friday
Hello Families of Super Second-Graders,
As fall lowers the curtains earlier and earlier on our sunlit afternoon activities, the darkness invites more time indoors, among family and books. Can I encourage you to embrace a habit of family reading, storytelling, music, creativity, or conversation in lieu of the ubiquitous screens? Time blinks by, let’s capture it with our kids.
Second grade students are extending as readers towards independence. Many students are selecting a wide range of books in a wide range of genres. They are reading with added fluency and greater ability to deal with unfamiliar vocabulary. The temptation is to sit back and celebrate our young readers’ successes.
However, it is important that we monitor for the “three C’s” of reading danger that can trip up readers as they extend through this stage.
First, we must Challenge Comprehension of texts by reading to and with our children in books that are slightly above or outside their comfort level at least some of their reading time. In this way we coach our children by speaking about our thoughts and the reasoning behind our thoughts as they pertain to the book as we are reading along with them. This gives our readers access to more challenging texts while promoting closeness among parents and children. In other words, reading to and talking about books with our kids doesn’t end when they can read “chapter books” for themselves.
Next, we must make sure the Content of the texts are appropriate. This concerns not just the obvious topics of violence or “romance”, but also the issues of ambiguity that children whose chronological age trails their reading ability might encounter. Ideas of complex emotional interplay or moral ambiguity can be difficult for young readers. Death or loss in a story can be crushing. Make sure you are aware of the books that are being read and do not take for granted that every book written for young readers is content-appropriate.
Lastly, we must provide access to the Context of the text. Though a reader might be able to read all about the love of a boy for a dog in rural West Virginia in Shiloh, they likely will not be able to understand the cultural context of the setting and therefore will have trouble engaging with the narrative completely and will certainly be challenged to deal with higher-level comprehension questioning. Shepherd your maturing reader by filling in the key contextual details that might support the reading of their books.
On the topic of reading:
Dear Parents,
In class students have begun to access https://www.raz-kids.com as a way to offer access to quality books in several genres at their own level. This is an online program that allows teachers to assign appropriately leveled texts for home reading and monitor reading remotely. Here are a few guidelines for home use of https://www.raz-kids.com.
1. It is optional, but reading is not. All students should be reading at home daily. Razkids can be a part of that. It is essentially an online library.
2. Access is simple. To access to your student’s account, navigate to https://www.raz-kids.com. Please click on the big green “Kids’ Login” button. Then type in my teacher code: asmith178. Select your student’s name and begin reading.
3. Bookmark the login page for easy future access.
4. All books must be read twice before they may listen to the story being read to them by the computer.
5. Building robots and rocket ships with the stars that have been earned is both fun and completely optional.
Have fun with this new tool and happy reading!
This Week’s Highlights
November 9-13
No School on Wednesday- Veteran’s Day
Phonics and word study focus
Long vowels- ing, Syllables
Reading focus
Comprehension focus: Approaching Non-Fiction Texts
Close reading: Connecting texts to questions in Non-Fiction
Book club individualized strategy lessons: Lessons created for specific skill outcomes based on individual and group needs
Focus books: National Geographic and Time for Kids, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Writing focus
Conventions- Spacing, Feeling ending of sentences, Periods and Capitals,
Writing skill- Planning Opinion pieces
Topical writing- Opinion pieces, variety
Math focus
Full Math workshop
Math journal problem solving through visual models
Individualized challenges
Telling time and working with money
Social Studies focus
Ancestors
Science focus
Mrs. Minarik’s Science Lab
Homework
Daily reading and homework packet
Best,
Andrew Smith
Teacher, Del Mar Heights School
No comments:
Post a Comment